Exec. Board – January 2020

Beth Costa on Jan 2, 2022

Wine Road Executive Board

Jan 8, 2020

Wine Road Office

9:30-10:30

NOTES

 

 

9:00       CALL TO ORDER

Attending: John Viszlay, Carla Jeffries, Danny Christensen, Carri Holdredge, Beth Costa, and Joe Foppoli via teleconference. Devin Ruddick, absent.

 

9:05        Review Minutes – November Meeting

                  Nov. Minutes to be approved via email

 

9:10        Treasurer’s Report: as of 12/31/19

                  Checking:             $36,233.57

Savings:                 $150,309.57 (transferred $50K back to savings)

 

                  Review – approve budget proposal for 2020. 2020 budget reviewed and approved.

 

9:25        Executive Director’s Goals Review. Goals reviewed. Exec Board meeting this week to discuss ED’s annual performance review. Review to be given by Jan. 31, 2020 with new 2020 goals established by the Board in conjunction with Beth.

 

9:35        Events

                  Wineland update: Ticket sales end on Mon, Jan. 13th.

Barrel Tasting: Planning to post 30 photos by Feb. 10 to promote the event (still need to get the photos)

Wine Road’s 1st Annual Golf Classic: Wineries will be asked to sponsor numerous activities to fund the event and raise money for the REFB. REFB will provide the volunteers to help work the event.

 

9:50        Marketing and PR

Rancho Mirage – press luncheon, one seminar. 7 Wineries are attending; not yet certain if seminar is moving forward; Beth hasn’t received confirmation.

 

#SipSonoma – Photo contest doing great so far.

Amy Lieberfarb hosting a one hour tasting on Twitter, Thur, Jan. 16, 5-6pm (PST). Tasting will include 12 influencers, each responding to the same 6 questions.

 

WR is also working with Amy Lieberfarb for ADA website training. She knows how each photo needs to be described in order to be ADA compliant (i.e., “woman in blue shirt with gray scarf sitting on chair…”) The Alexa Report confirmed the same requirements that Amy had recommended.

 

WR App, addition of punch card – how to tie-in lodgings:

WR promo “Explore More” – gets customers to visit 20 wineries, each winery offering a different varietal. WR is changing the colors of the app to tie-in look & feel of website.

Review social numbers / PR report – Beth to send metrics spreadsheet (“monthly numbers”) to Board for review. Beth, Misty, Marci and Rebecca use this tool to make their marketing decisions.

 

Podcast: Karisa Kruse of Sonoma County Winegrower’s Assoc agreed to sponsor$6K of WR’s podcast, cutting the production cost by 50%. Beth just completed the 100th episode.

 

 

10:10     Brand Ambassadors

Launch, follow-up, measure. Beth shared engaging and fun marketing materials from Maker’s Mark Whiskey Ambassador program. WR will consider equally engaging materials that give Ambassadors something to talk about/post on social media.

 

10:15     Board Elections– need to determine candidate for Exec Board Secretary, replacing Carri Holdredge. Beth will ask the General Board of Directors at the upcoming Feb meeting. Carla Jeffries, past President has also completed two terms on the Board. March 2020 will be their last Board meeting date.

 

10:20     New Business

Health insurance survey was sent to members. 50% of members already offer insurance; 50% do not. 40 replies so far; 60% of those replies would consider a WR insurance plan if rates were competitive, or better.

 

WR to hire a “Member and Partner Relations Coordinator” to work 20-30 hours per week to provide support for both groups, while also working to increase overall membership & partnerships.

 

WR is establishing a new shopping cart (wineroad.com/shop) – an avenue to generate revenue by selling existing WR trinket inventory (i.e., mugs, blankets, etc.)

 

10:30     Adjourn

 

Next Full Board Meeting – Feb 12 (Beth may need to cancel) Location TBD

Posted by Beth Costa